Time for Change ???

Agree - This is not being raised lightly - Uk economic situation is indeed getting worse. Energy companies are looking to give us more £ hikes.

This club is a great resource and community - we need change inorder to protect its future.

That is why I started this post - That is why we need positive action.

The way I see it, we could make the mag virtual, even if you're not on the Forum, you're probably on email. ENE has 38 members, I think I don't have email addies for about 3, how expensive is it to print off 3 copies of the mag to post to them? Someone on the committee must have a colour printer.
I post on the Sparks Forum. (That doesn't make me a bad person!) Anyone can read all the posts, but you have to apply to join and be accepted to post. Why can't we do that here? It opens up the Forum while preserving security.
I can see how the mag issue might need some kind of vote, but can't quite see what the problem is regarding the Forum?

well said juliet.....lets do it!!!!

I am going to make myself unpopular but I feel I have to be devils advocate :evil:

I personally dont think that £30 for a membership fee is that expensive. £30 for 12 months or as it works out

£0.08 per day.

Everything needs money to survive and so dose the club. How to get more from the club for the money as worth looking into I agree but I think in the current financial climate asking to get more for less is not do-able.

For me to afford the club fee is to drink one less bottle of wine a week but that will do me good anyway

just my view on things

oh and I wouldnt mind a E-mag to save club money so the money can be chanelled into other things, but that still wont help the editor who is struggeling for content because the members dont contribute enough.

Cheers

Guy

guy obviously not all our members think it's expensive but a lot do also non members are keen to join til we mention the price,when other clubs are charging 10-20 quid how can we justify charging £30? i don't drink or smoke so i pay the £30 quid but others may not be as financially secure as us....i have the same problem when getting people to display their x1/9s at shows....some organisers charge you even though 'without your cars they has no stars' ....their is a lot of financial hardship around and what with x1/9 parts get more expensive,people say its the car 1st for them and the club second.....we need to make it more financially obtainable

So very true Guy !!

Price of membership is still about a 3/4 of a tank of petrol and Pete Car events which charge to display your cars should be avoided except where the donation goes to charity And yes I only go to Autoitalia beacuse I get in for nothing.

Come on boys and girls get your fingers out have a moan in the magazine, might give the quiet membership something to read and respond to in the magazine.

frosty as i said i pay the price but we are not everyone,money is tight for others all i want is a club that has a thriving membership and if lowering the price gets us another 50 members then great we cant afford to outprice ourselves,your the only person i know who got into autoitalia for free we all paid £15 each,so how you got in free is interesting

I'm kind of with Guy and Frosty, I'm not sure an extra 10-12 quid a year is the real issue. I think accessibility is. It's not cost per se, it's value for money that's important. Tha's why BOGOFs are so popular, you're still paying the same amount, just getting more for your brass!
I think we could keep the membership fee the same but give more. A hard copy or virtual mag is no big deal, a mag is still a mag, but people want info, gossip, news, a feeling of belonging if they are going to keep paying, so open up the forum, use skype for meetings, provide links/liaise closely with the Facebook site.
Sound reasonable?

hi juliet i am only relaying what others say...its too expensive....people always want too much for their money....once again i do not mind paying the fee but others don't or we would have more members than we do,this year i have lost several members in my area...i have asked 'why have you left? ' 'i don't feel like i am getting much for my money' and these are people who moaned they didnt get any meets....so i gave them 9 meets last year and maybe 15 this year...some you can't make happy but we need to try harder

We need more meetings end of

Michael

yes michael i believe people join the club more for this reason than just for a magazine

Your all missing one point here, Want or don't want a mag its like pulling hens teeth getting submissions for each mag.
A lot of people want the mag and others don't but without contributions its a pointless discussion.
I put together the mag in my spare time, i work full time (I'm away from home an average of 80 days a year on work trips) and have a young family plus try to work on my own cars a bit and if honest its very time consuming doing this magazine.

So the idea of a mag is great i enjoy putting it together and i think most people like to receive it and read it but 90% of members don't have the time or will to contribute so really i think theres your answer.
It might be a lot easier for people to contribute on line and maybe create sections on the website with a library of tips hints and a decent gallery for self submissions of members cars and trips, (obviously edited to a certain degree)
if that happened then the membership would need to be reduced or an acceptable use of the surplus club money found.
personally i think using some of this money to have hard to find car parts commissioned would be of greater use to the members restoring there cars or wanting to improve there cars

The website in my opinion should be 80% open to all with 20% of site and posting on forums open to members only, technical down loads should be members only as well.
Again the answer about the web site is right in front of everyones eyes, the Facebook page has only been going a few months but already has over 300 members and has an active forum page to rival the clubs own private site, this shows peoples preference for communication, membership and contacts its on line not on paper, its now or at 10.30 at night after you've put the kids to bed washed the pots and had a beer, not waiting for me to send off to the publishers for printing after its been delayed waiting for conformation of details submissions or committee admissions.

it would also be quite easy to do a simple update email sent to all members weekly or monthly.

But these are just my thoughts and findings not necessarily the right or wrong things to do or the committee as a wholes feelings.

time for a ballot then..... i still think 2 memberships are possible...one with magazine and one without (lower membership fee) the one without would still get the magazine via the forum which would be part of the private members section,i would still opt for the paper magazine but others may not,we need to find out what everyone wants

Y'all might want to read the Treasure and Tower thread under Events, a real life case study!

firstly, it is healthy to see the debate! The problems you are going through are exactly the same as The Porsche 924 Owners club on which I was a committee member and the Peugeot Sport Owners club. The latter is larger and sponsored by Peugeot but the 924 club grew from about 30 to 250 members while I was there, so is perhaps more comparable.

Why I joined: (1) I like to do club events (2) Forum for technical support / access to spares etc (3) Insurance / parts discount. At 924OC our analysis suggested it was always one of those three if not in that order. Like you, however, we spent nearly all our money on the magazine and like you we never got enough material to fill it (I was editor for a while!). Although I am not a member now I note they have reduced the frequency of the paper mag and gone to a ezine format.

My initial experience of the X19 club is that yes £30 is more expensive than the norm ..Peugeot is £22 and 924OC was £20. Having a closed forum is pretty unique and you really have to want to join to persist. While completing the joining process I came across an X19 section on the Fiat forum which appeared open and free ... others might stop there! The other two forums have general sections open so that people can see what they are getting but a private members area (for debates like this!) and the technical bits (give these away for free and people won't pay I promise you).

As for Facebook .. it doesn't interest me but a billion people shouldn't be ignored as potential members!

Hope that adds to your debate.